PSA 501/Bates meeting

I’m going to sum it up.
Didn’t start on time.
Was upstairs in the santuary.
Began with loooong Christian prayer.
Commander Jennifer Greene.
Florida Park Crew vs Sursum Corda crew to blame for shootings.
Mother of shooting victim gives emotional defense of son.
There are 447 parolees in our community.
Hillbilly Herion is being sold in our area.
Citizen- Truancy calls to 311 not being taken seriously by operators.
Citizen- Weed and Seed van useless. It just sits there.
Vincent Orange shows up. Is he up for election this year?
Question: Why can’t we get decent loitering laws?
Answer: Blame the ACLU for challenging it in the courts.
Left meeting, had to finish manic search for lost tool.

Open letter to developer

Dear Developer,
You knocked over half of a building. You left one side open. This looks very attractive were I a person looking for free shelter for the cool Fall weather.
You also left doors unlocked and windows open on your other project. A bit more attractive, for say Winter. If I were a prostitute both locations would make suitable offices for work.
Please secure your property.
Thank you.

The Washington Post Explains All

Ah, wisdom from the Post.
The Saturday edition answered the question of who the heck is buying these frickin luxury condos. According to “So Who’s Buying Them” apparently single people with money, empty nesters downsizing, couples with money, people trading up and investors. There is the theory that the investors are driving the prices up. But really can there be that many investors? As I said before, just say no to the real estate crack.
Also today’s Post answered another question….. What are they doing in the parking lot of the 7th and U CVS at midnight. I passed by a few times on the bus from Woodly heading back home after a dance, seeing these huge pictures and bright lights. I first thought, oh someone making a lowbudget film. Second time, wow taking some time to make that movie. Third time, beats me. Because of the Post I now know that the activity near midnight in the parking lot of the CVS is the Picture Man. Aparently, if you want a picture of you with your bling in front of a picture of a snazzy car, sweeping stairs, or expensive booze, go to the CVS. In Shaw has no bling and will have future pictures taken by semi-professional Aunt In PG County in front of auntie’s 2 year old Saturn. Just keeping it real.
Also in the Post, though not a question since I knew about it. Monies for Section 8 is scarce. And the odd thing is I’m looking at the chart and of the surrounding areas and DC has the most folks on housing vouchers, despite the other areas being oh, I don’t know, bigger. The table isn’t on-line (of course I have dial up so I’m not gonna like hunt for it) but in the print version the is a table from the Metroplitan Washington Council of Governments showing who has how many vouchers. DC leads the pack with 8,921 vouchers. Followed by Montgomery county with 5,413; PG with 4,186; and Fairfax with 3,146. The other counties ranged below 2,000 or were Loudon with 770 or Manassas with 197. Remember these may include senior citizens. DC may shift the burden of rising rents to the tenants. This might push some section 8 folks over the edge, maybe some out to other areas, cheaper areas, or worse homelessness. How could this change the face of Shaw? We might lose our economic diversity. I just wanna keep the old folks. Someone’s gotta hang around the neighborhood besides rowdy teens and I pick the retirees. Yea old people! May they survive the section 8 troubles.

House of the week

I want to see it painted, paint it black
Black as night, black as coal
I want to see the sun blotted out from the sky
I want to see it painted, painted, painted, paint it black, yeah
–Rolling Stones “Paint it Black”

Apparently Goths buy homes too. 514 R St. is the In Shaw house of the week (fortnight, whatever) because it’s owner/occupant decided to paint it black. Seriously, the house is black. As the song says, black as coal, black as night, BLACK.
Nothing says I ain’t selling the house like the color black. Daring I say. I take my hat, well head scarf for now, off to the people of 514 R St.

No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

Let’s go out to the movies

Let’s go out to the movies.
Let’s go out to the movies.
Let’s go out to the movies,
and have ourselves a treat!
Flipping throuh the Weekend section of the Post, I saw it. Regal Cinemas will open their theater at Gallery Place-(fake) Chinatown Friday October 22! If you were here with me as I saw it you would have heard me squeal with delight.
A theater I can bike to! I can’t bike to Union Station because a)bike theives will steal your bike (never ever leave your bike at Union Station) and b) it involves crossing 2 roads of death (NY and North Cap). I could sorta bike to E Street, but it is deeper into downtown, where I don’t like to bike. Particularly on my everyday bike, the one with only one brake.

Maintenance

The bathtub needs another treatment of the drain declogger. I suspect that there is a piece of soap stuck in the pipes, so it might need part of a stick as well to dig around. Anywho, this morning’s shower and clog got me thinking of maintenance and homeownership. Maintenance is drugery, and if we call a plumber, it’s expensive too. Maintenance makes the act of just getting a house look like the easy part, particularly if you have an older 100+ year old townhome.
When driving through New York City, my friend Nora B. pointed out a depressing looking apartments above a bridge. She said it looked liked someone designed it, built it and then didn’t keep it up. The once bright colorful paints were peeling, dingy and faded.
That could describe the history of many of the townhomes in my area. I’m still slowly, with fits and starts gathering census data for the area. I have recently stumbled onto 1880 households with white servants. The grand houses that held these important people and their live in staff, are a little less grand now. Big houses with ornate brickwork and large windows. Keeping up the brickwork, getting the birds’ nests out, removing that mini-tree that established itself in a crevice, costs either time or money or both. The building of the grand house, done. Keeping it grand, annoying and expensive.
This was a topic hammered home in those first-time home buyer seminars, maintenance, keeping the place up. So many people put so much energy and money into getting a house, and in this market, that is a requirement. Unfortunately, their spirits and bank accounts are drained by the time the first crisis comes around. Darned it, those crisises come early. Mine was a hole in the wall. $400. Second was running toilet. $200, and that was WITH the home warranty. Then the flood. Insurance took care of that. I guess I spent a coupla hundred just to deal with minor things like insulation, leaky valves, etc. Then there was taking time off to wait for the guy between 11 and 3 for the quirky phone lines, or to look at the furnace. Will the person who borrowed, scrimped saved, took on an extra job have the ability to deal with the $300 problem that shows up, followed by a $90 problem and another one, and another one. With homeownership, there is always something.

Baseball in DC

Got this late yesterday so the event has passed, but it is a notable one:

Dear Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner:

I am sure you’ve read in the papers that the return of baseball is imminent. The Mayor is making the official announcement at the City Museum today, (September 29) at 4:00 pm. I wanted to make sure you received a notice regarding this and officially invited. Your constituents are also invited to this important event.

{SNIP]

It’s time to celebrate! Major League Baseball returns to the District after a 33 year absence and the stadium, coupled with the new DC United Stadium, promises to spur development along the Anacostia River.

Hope to see you there!

Neil Richardson

Evil Evil Gentrification

In today’s New York Times the case where the cash strapped city of New London wants to steal the property from homeowners so they can build yuppie complexs has been placed on the Supreme Court’s docket. The city fathers (and mothers) have some wacked out idea of “public use.” Which is the part of the law that allows local governments to kick people out of their homes. Usually it is to build a road, make a big park, like Central Park in NYC, or even to build a factory that would employ thousands. Not a hotel, conference center and private 80 homes.

G2 bus & 3rd Street.

According to rumours, which may or may not be true, the contractor doing 3rd Street between P & Q Streets, dropped the job and has left the street screwed up. This street has been under construction for months and months. Currently you can only go south on 3rd, not north as well. For the longest there was no travel on this portion of 3rd at all.
Along a patch of 3rd street the G2 (Georgetown U/ Howard U) bus travels. The G2 hits 3rd at R st, Q St and P St. Due to the contruction, the Georgetown bound bus had turned on R, continued on New Jersey and then turned on P. But now that the southbound lane is open confusion has occurred. Some drivers go back to the old route of going down third. Some drivers turn on R and go down NJ. Sucks to be you if you waited at P. Guess where I was waiting? Lucky I run fast and there wasn’t any traffic on New Jersey.
Anyway, in honor of this rant I am adding to my sidebar, two metro related links. First, is the Washington Metro Riders Union a yahoo group. Second, is DC Metrorider, a Live Journal community. Post, bitch, rave, observe.